Avatar On Blu-ray Breaks Single Day Sales Records

Avatar hit Blu-ray and DVD today and what was the biggest theatrical release of all time is now also the biggest Blu-ray release of all time. No surprise there. Fox tells the Trades that Avatar on Blu-ray sold 1.5 million units in its first day on shelves in the United States on Canada. That more than doubles the previous Blu-ray record, held by The Dark Knight with 600,000 units.

Two years since The Dark Knight, a lot more people have bought in to the Blu-ray format. So I’m not sure how much it really means to break Blu-ray records right now. What’ll really be interesting is when we find out how much Avatar sold on traditional DVD. There’s this perception out there that Avatar is only worth seeing in 3D, and since right now that’s just not possible, will that keep people away from picking it up on home video? Somehow I doubt it. Fox already predicts they’ll sell 4 million units overall, including both Blu-ray and DVD, enough to make it the bestselling release of the year so far.

Though it’s perceived as a 3D or nothing experience, once you’ve seen Avatar it’s pretty much the same movie with or without glasses. Besides, people are devoted to this movie in a completely crazy, emotional level which doesn’t really think about what the best format to watch it in is. Sure fans could wait till November and get a better special edition version instead of the bare-bones release hitting shelves right now, but they won’t. They’re paint themselves blue and buy both.